April 1 2016 was indeed one of the saddest days of the Indian TV industry as it lost the talented and beautiful actress Pratyusha Banejee. The ‘Balika Vadhu’ fame artist committed suicide in her Mumbai flat last year this very day.
On her first death anniversary, let’s have a look at the life and the illustrious career of Pratyusha.
Pratyusha Banerjee, fondly known as Piyu, was born in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand on 10 August, 1991.
Pratyusha Banerjee
She made her Hindi television debut in 2010 when she played a grownup Anandi in the hit serial, “Balika Vadhu”. Pratyusha and two other actresses were shortlisted after having auditioned for the beloved character and the viewers were asked to vote for the one who they wished to see play Anandi. Pratyusha won hands down.
Pratyusha Banerjee
Pratyusha's popularity soared after Balika Vadhu and she was invited to participate in Bigg Boss 7, where she found a close friend in fellow television actor, Kamya Punjabi. The two remained friends even after their stint on the controversial reality TV show.
Pratyusha Banerjee
Pratyusha also appeared on the dance reality TV show, Jhalak Dikhla Jaa 5 and had reportedly signed up as a host for crime-based reality TV show, Savdhaan India for a segment on women against crime. In 2014, she appeared on the series Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya. She also starred in the series Hum Hain Na and Sasural Simar Ka.
Pratyusha Banerjee
Her boyfriend, actor-producer Rahul Raj Singh also belongs to Jharkhand. While reports claim that Pratyusha's suicide had been triggered by troubles in their relationship, there is no evidence about this so far. The two were seen in the relationship-based TV show, “Power Couple”, hosted by Arbaaz Khan and Malaila Arora Khan.
Recently, a promo of a short film titled, ““Hum Kuchh Kah Na Sakey” featuring Pratyusha Banerjee stormed the internet. It was said that the film was made by reality-show contestant Kamya Punjabi, who was a good friend of the deceased actress.
Kamya took to her Instagram account to release the promo of Pratyusha’s last short film. However, Pratyusha’’s boyfriend Rahul objected to it and reports say a stay order has been passed against it.
Kamya also put out an emotional post on Twitter for her.